he who prepares to pull the trigger
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [Lelouch of the Rebellion manga-verse] The world won't change with just flies who struggle within a web. With just oppression and hatred and sorrow. They need a power. Beyond a flame. Beyond a hope. Something...that could stop death from taking all possibilities away.
1. 1

**A/N**: After our conversation somewhere got off the track, Rayne (Rayniekinnz) and I reading the Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion manga for the first time (actually, our first forage into Code Geass as a whole – we just chose to start with the manga). Sort of like a watching marathon, except with the manga – one chapter a day or thereabouts, and a drabble each to celebrate. So drabble numbers correspond to their respective drabbles – and this collection will go up to Ch 19 which is the last chapter I can find online.

(in other words, this being chapter 1 means I've only read ch 1 by this point, so it may not agree with what's revealed in later chapters.)

Also written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, G2 – write a drabble collection with drabbles between 50 and 500 words. I'm aiming for 250 exactly, with the first two parts 100 each and the last 50, but we'll see how that goes. :D Managed with the first one at least.

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/1/**

**.**

The divide between the Sokkai and the Ghetto. The taint of Brittania on this Japanese soil. Their fruitless struggle. It might be sad to watch, but it was also unavoidable.

Only flies caught in that sort of web could struggle without hope. With hatred as their only fuel.

He had hatred. The blood of the royal family in his veils.

He had hope. Nunnally.

He needed might. He needed power.

But, at that point, he was just a powerless one amongst the mass.

So he could watch and play meaningless games and wait for an opportunity that might never come.

**.**

Surprise. Shock. Possibility.

The possibility of death.

That incensed him. Inflamed him.

To die without having accomplished anything. To die leaving Nunnally behind. To die leaving the deplorable Brittania as it was.

_That girl… And Suzaku; why is he –_

But the guns, those heartless military men, froze all possibility.

And even Suzaku, being so noble – _foolishly _noble even_ – _wouldn't save him.

Nor the opportune smoke. The diversions. The girl. The Elevens who witnessed them.

They mowed them all down. And him.

They'd get him too.

Checkmate. Already. Before he'd had a chance to set the board.

He needed something…

_Something_…

**.**

The power of the king.

The voice – the _power _– that saved him from oblivion as the guns drew near, finally, without a barrier left between them.

He didn't care about the price. Loneliness… He was already lonely.

What mattered was that now he had the power to change the world.


	2. 2

**A/N: **Here is the second drabble for the second chapter!

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/2/**

**.**

Power.

And the willingness to use it.

And he didn't have a child's mentality to blind him.

'One who pulls the trigger,' he said, and he believed it, even if he hadn't quite been prepared, 'must be willing to die by that trigger too.'

Though when the blood splatters his face, he freezes in mingled horror and shock.

And when he remembers in a more innocent scene, bile rises up in his throat.

But he has it now. He has power. His weakness is that he is too soft but he can change: become harder.

He has the power now.

**.**

Resolve.

That was what he needed. Or needed to fortify.

Truthfully, he thought he already had his resolve. His hatred for Britannia. The ones who slaughtered his mother, crippled his sister.

Yes, he already had his resolve. He simply needed to get rid of that weakness of his. To push forward without hesitation in front or regret on his back.

Resolve…and knowledge as well.

He could not walk blind. He couldn't _risk_ walking blind. Because he couldn't lose before Britannia was in checkmate.

And he could not ignore what happened in front of him.

Because he was still too soft.

**.**

Nunnally.

She was his reason. His reason for striving for a peaceful world beyond revenge.

Maybe, without her, he might not even have been able to strive for revenge.

He didn't need anybody besides Nunnally.

But his power alone wasn't enough to make her ideal world.

He needed some pawns.


	3. 3

**A/N: **And we're both running a day behind. Whoops?

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/3/**

**.**

He hides behind casualness and smirks.

He wonders if anyone notices. Notices when he brushes off their question. Why he's doing strange things. Pretending it's not strange at all. At least not to him.

And it's not. It's just the reasons that have changed. A newspaper that has become more than just another reminder of the state of the world.

A newspaper that he now knows _lies_ about the world.

_Poisonous gas._

Suzaku had said the same. But he, Lelouch, knew better. Had almost been killed because he knew better.

Had been saved because he knew better.

Because of _her_.

**.**

Everyone hides. He realises that now.

Cast as a weak, frail, girl. But a terrorist.

Himself, looking no different than the days before, but so many other things: a prince in hiding, a murderer…and with this strange power, the power _she'd_ called "the power of the king".

And Suzaku. Shouldering the pain alone. Trying to protect everyone else.

He knows it'll crush Suzaku eventually. The world's not that kind to let someone carry all the blame.

It is however kind enough to set a board where someone could stand to one side and win.

If the pieces are played right.

**.**

A world without sadness, without pain.

Before, he thought it impossible, though he might have entertained the notion of attempting to change the world anyhow. But now he has a power.

He could pretend he was noble. Trying to purify the world.

He would do it for Nunnally…and his hatred.


	4. 4

**A/N: **And all caught up again. :D

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/4/**

**.**

Prince Clovis' death.

That was the first in a series of stepping stones.

But the world hadn't changed.

Of course, he knew it wouldn't change so quickly.

They got a day off. That was it.

And there was Suzaku. And the cat. Like a day in the past.

And Lelouch trying to beat Suzaku at some physical thing and falling flat on his face.

Those were the old days. The days that were rare and far between in the present. Trying to best each other. Competing for meaningless things.

Suzaku running after cats. Cats running from him.

That was peace.

**.**

The peace was shattered.

Someone like Suzaku shouldn't even _be_ in the army.

But he was.

And he was being falsely accused for a crime _he_ had committed.

Zero. Lelouch.

His power hadn't stopped that. Hadn't seen that coming.

A perfectly set up board – and yet he'd put a piece he didn't want on it.

_I'm still too soft…_

But he couldn't throw Suzaku away. Or Nunnally. They were the only people he had left.

Clovis, he'd never liked. And he didn't mourn.

He'd ordered the deaths of millions with the same breath he'd welcomed him.

But Suzaku was innocent.

**.**

'How are you enjoying this power?' _she_ asked.

He didn't wonder how she was still alive. Not quite then.

He was still reeling in shock. Nunnally's fear was still echoing in his ears.

And his own fear, his powerlessness.

_Power…_

He had the power.

He looked at the board again.


	5. 5

**A/N: **My internet wasn't working very well yesterday. :( Where a hard copy would have come in handy…

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/5/**

**.**

Human sickness.

That was something still out of his control. But he could handle that. Handle it if it didn't kill. If the rest of the word was nice and peaceful and she could lay in bed and watch the flowers sing in the breeze…

But it wasn't that sort of world now.

And there were suddenly so many obstacles standing his ways. Distractions.

Nunnally herself, because it was an effort to wrench himself from her bedside when she looked so ill.

The stranger eating pizza on his covers and sleeping in his bed.

And Suzaku, the scapegoat of Britannia.

**.**

She was frustrating. C.C.

It wasn't even a name, but that's all she'd given him. That, and the fact that she'd survived a fatal shot.

And had given him this power.

And claimed that they were accomplishes, bound by a contract.

He didn't like how he was ignorant about the finer details of that contract.

He didn't know why she chose him either. Luck, or something else.

But he was sure he heard her calling, that day in the Ghetto. That day he'd almost met his fate without accomplishing a single thing.

When he said he hadn't needed power, he lied.

**.**

A miracle.

That was what he called it. What he said when he rallied Kallen and her rebels to him.

But miracles were made from one's own power, and that was what he planned.

But even that wasn't enough to make everybody's heads turn.

_Suzaku…why are you so stubborn?_


	6. 6

**A/N: **So that's why the series is called "Geass". Makes sense. :D

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/6/**

**.**

Corruption.

It spread like wildfire in the broken, post-Clovis, government.

Or, rather, it showed itself more blatantly under the dissident government. Under a rule without a pretty figure-head at its head.

He was going to trample on all of that. The corruption that snuck under corruption. The cowards who thought they could use the state of the world for their own gains. Who would continue spurring corruption, making it impossible to gain true peace, true equality.

He was going to weed all those rats out and crush them underfoot.

He was going to create the perfect world he dreamed of.

**.**

He gave the power a name: Geass.

And plotted.

What he told C.C was the truth. He hadn't needed it. But it made things easier.

He was still a boy, though wise enough still to know such power did not come without its limitations and costs.

He would dance, but he'd be wary of where he placed his feet.

He would not stumble and fall, but tread carefully.

He needed to be perfect to see his plan into fruition.

It was a difficult game, with humans – free will – on the board.

_I could use Geass on everyone…_

But he couldn't.

**.**

It would have been funny, from an outsider's perfective.

For him, it was just a revelation of how precarious a path he was treading, even with Geass by his side.

Of how careful he had to be of his face, his identity.

The mask…and the royal blood in his veins.


	7. 7

**A/N: **More than a third of the way through this manga!

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/7/**

**.**

He hated Britannia because of the Emperor.

Because of his _father_ who'd saw fit to abandon them: him, Nunnally…and their mother.

He had power. He was an _Emperor_. But he let their mother die. He let Nunnally become crippled and blind. He'd called them all dead, just _things_…

And then he sent the pair of them away as trade material…and left them for dead when he tore the country apart with war some time later.

And he probably didn't shed a tear at their deaths.

He hated him, the Emperor, for that. For abandoning them.

He hated Britannia for that.

**.**

Euphie wasn't like Clovis.

That didn't mean that his goal was any closer to fruition with her on the Governer's seat.

That didn't mean he wouldn't kill her like Clovis.

But he lied about that. Because he wanted his hatred known.

Maybe that was just his pride speaking. The hurt he carried in his heart.

Or maybe he liked Euphie too much and that made him that much weaker.

Or maybe he thought Euphie would become an ally. _Could_ become an ally.

Or maybe he saw her as one of the weak he wanted to protect.

Maybe he saw Nunnally…

**.**

That was just another measure of his vulnerability, how C.C took the blast for him.

But that was a protection he couldn't turn down. Because he needed to live. In order to continue his plan for a new world.

A world where the strong did not trample on the weak.


	8. 8

**A/N: **Phew. That bomb was a little more drama than I was expecting. :)

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/8/**

**.**

Things were going as planned.

Zero had become the people's hero: a figurehead, a cornerstone – something more than a terrorist, something people who had already lost themselves to despair could still put their faith in.

He was starting to transcend the limitations placed on a "self". He was starting to become more than a person: a person using a mask and cloak to further their agenda. He was starting to become a figure, a symbol. Something that could unite the world…

And something that could be eternal, leaving longer than the mortal life, transcending memories and time.

A lasting change…

**.**

They still disagreed.

It was seeming less and less likely that Suzaku would ever see reason: see Zero as the person who would rewrite the world and make it a better place.

Zero wasn't even asking the impossible. Wasn't asking to be seen as a God.

So why couldn't Suzaku see that the path he was embarking down all alone was useless?

Changing the world from within, as a single person swallowed up by a corrupt system… It would never work. He'd experienced that injustice. He'd faced it, barely walked away from it.

And yet, he still believed in that.

**.**

He will checkmate them. Everyone.

Starting with the ones he could easily reach. The army trying to supress. The terrorists pretending to be noble knights.

_Those people are so disgusting…_

Taking hostages like that. His friends. Innocent civilians who couldn't fight back.

Maybe there's some vengeance mixed up in there.


	9. 9

**A/N: **I like chapters that twist like that.

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/9/**

**.**

It was a big show.

That was what C.C called it. Often, he found himself wondering if she understood what it was he was trying to accomplish. His goals. His motivation.

It was hard to say, when he barely knew anything about her.

But that didn't matter. He was using her just like she was using him, for agendas the other didn't understand. And so long as they assisted each other, didn't get in each other's ways and didn't betray each other – and, at this point, that would help neither of them, it would be fine.

They were just accomplices.

**.**

The word about Zero was spreading.

He wondered when it would reach _that_ man. The man he hated. The Emperor who acted like a non-existent God.

He wondered if God existed at all.

Again, he'd told the truth. He didn't hate Britannia for Britannia, but that man for what he had made it. It was beautiful, once upon a time. Perhaps. He didn't recall it, but occasionally Nunnally, lost in reminiscence, would speak of pretty images and he would listen.

She didn't believe him. She didn't need to believe him.

So long as they didn't hinder each other.

They wouldn't.

**.**

He thought he'd known everything. He'd thought he'd played the perfect move.

When had he gone wrong?

Shirley clung to him, in tears. He could only stand there and let the rain pelt him like a retribution.

How..? How had he gotten someone innocent involved?

How had he killed innocents?


	10. 10

**A/N: ** Comments on this chapter…erm…

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/10/**

**.**

He'd probably crossed the road of no return. It was too late to regret now.

No…it wasn't regret he felt, but something else. Something that struggled to find a name. Something…

And the circle of doubt seems even bigger. What he knew. What he didn't. What he thought. What he'd been wrong about. Whether he'd even been wrong.

He thought he'd cast those doubts aside. He thought he'd given up that weak part of him.

That was laughable, really. He was still weak. He would always be weak. Because he was human. Because of _his _blood.

He had to overcome.

**.**

He would gain more power. The Geass he already had but that was a lonely power, and in the end he was only one man to use it. He'd seen it earlier: he needed more pieces than the king. He'd taken Kallen and her resistance.

Now, he set his sights on more. More knights. More pawns. More strength.

And less doubts.

He'd shed more blood. He had to. To gain what he desired. To make sure the blood already spilt wouldn't go to waste.

To make sure everything that had been sacrificed, and would be sacrificed, wouldn't be a waste.

**.**

He was a fool. Still powerless. Weak. And that was without knowing exactly what sort of danger he'd been in.

He'd been lying there, unconscious, for anyone to see and unmask.

And someone had done that. Spilt blood. Taken his gun. Left his photo.

He could hear Shirley's voice echoing…


	11. 11

**A/N: ** I can honestly say I was waiting for this chapter. :D Even if it was just one day…

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/11/**

**.**

He hated how it was all outside his control. How he looked weak. How he looked like he was falling prey to his emotions again. How he might have been falling prey to those emotions again and just making excuses to himself and to C.C who questioned him.

And he didn't like how C.C was talking all business. Even though he needed to do exactly that.

Because if she saw his face, if she was still alive… He had to do something.

But if she'd died, she'd died because of him.

She'd probably seen his face because of him too.

**.**

He was panicking. He couldn't understand. The little puzzle of location had been easy enough to work out, but not the rest.

Even if he was that confident.

He lost. At chess.

And at getting the upper hand as well.

Thinking things through. He'd always done that. He'd always won like that.

Suddenly, it had become a weakness.

And he was paying for it.

And paying like this.

_Shirley…_

…a power like that, to read thoughts…

…it was so easy to manipulate them too.

He was panicking. Because he never lost control of the game like this.

He never lost.

**.**

Because of him…

It was because of him Shirley got involved. Got hurt. Lost her father. Got blood on her hands.

He'd believed what he was doing was right. Was the only way to bring about that happy world for Nunnally.

He'd cost a friend's, Shirley's, happiness in the process.


	12. 12

**A/N: ** And Mao exits left stage huh.

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/12/**

**.**

He watches the memories burn.

He'll remember them, still. He knows he will. But at least there's nothing material left, nothing that will remind Shirley of them. Except careless words. But there'll always be careless words. The emotions are gone. Mao had lost. The things that would have made Shirley remember without doubt are gone.

Now, if someone tells her she once had a crush on him, she simply looks blank. She no longer knows him – and it will stay that way. He'd cost her too much. It was better this way.

It was the price he had to pay.

**.**

Mao. He had to go.

Lelouch was impatient. _Zero_ was impatient. Because of Shirley. Because of C.C. Because of his own vulnerability.

Because Mao was the result of a Geass that had overpowered him and Lelouch feared he would become that too. But he had to use it. He'd pushed the world onto a path where he needed it.

And he needed C.C. More than just because she could expose him. Mao could expose him too. He hadn't. He wouldn't. Neither would she.

When had he become so reliant on fickle things? He didn't like that – but he'd no choice.

**.**

He won. He got rid of Mao.

It was a relatively small victory, but one that set the stage for something more. A potential hazard rerouted. C.C returned. A conviction renewed.

He wouldn't become like Mao; that he vowed to himself.

He would control his Geass. He would reign victorious.


	13. 13

**A/N: ** Aww, cute. Aside from the ending…

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/13/**

**.**

As time passed, he began to nurture a little regret.

His short and simple command had amounted to something so large.

And he was selfish. Even though that was the price he had to pay, he didn't want it to be…

But he'd chosen to make Shirley forget, and the power of the Geass had taken all her memories of him.

That was what it had cost to protect her.

And Nunnally…he wouldn't pay that sort of price for Nunnally.

He had to find another way of protecting her. Something…or someone, who could be with her, and protect her forever.

**.**

Nunnally. Everything was for Nunnally. This new world. The Geass. Zero. His borrowed time.

All of it…

But he wasn't so naïve to think Nunnally would be perfectly safe until his plan succeeded. Nor was he naïve enough to think he could be with Nunnally at all times, whenever she needed him, whenever she was in danger.

And even in a happy world, she deserved to fall in love…

She needed someone who could be beside her forever.

Suzaku would…Suzaku would be perfect. Nunnally loved him. Lelouch could, even if he didn't agree with Zero, trust him with her life.

**.**

It struck him suddenly, without warning. The Geass again…just like when he'd first met C.C. Images of the past: his past…and then there was Suzaku there.

Suzaku that he'd just been talking to.

And there was that – his precious watch. And his father. And blood. And a knife.

He was…shocked.


	14. 14

**A/N: ** That big giant fish…

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><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/14/**

**.**

The pieces of that puzzle began to fall into place. Why the Suzaku in high school was different from the Suzaku of seven years ago. Why he'd joined the military. Why he had no regard for his own life. Why he was so determined to change the world without shedding blood, even if it was impossible.

It was his own way of repentance. And he'd been carrying that burden alone, all that time. Telling no-one. Not even the people he'd been so close to.

Lelouch's ideal world – Zero's ideal world – would make it so such sad things wouldn't happen again.

**.**

C.C didn't understand what had happened either. That concerned him – but C.C was right in that nobody had been hurt. Maybe it didn't matter.

Still, not knowing something wasn't a nice feeling at all. It made him more wary – of the dangers, of the risks.

But there was no turning back. For a long time, there was no turning back. He only had to learn. Learn more about that power. About its limitations. About what happened when it grew.

And he needed to know more about the Empire's actions as well.

He needed to know exactly how the board looked.

**.**

Unanswered questions. Unknown objectives. He didn't like either of those…but he might discover answers with this endeavour. If _he_ really was coming. He who Clovis said had the answer to his mother's murder.

And even he wouldn't be able to resist answering any question under Geass.

He _would_ find out.


	15. 15

**A/N: ** And mystery ruins…

* * *

><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/15/**

**.**

There was the Geass' symbol on the door. And his own power flaring in response. And the army, nearing. Searching for more knowledge.

So they knew about Geass after all. He'd suspected they'd wanted C.C for that very reason…

But it still irked him they knew more than him, even if he was the one with C.C now.

And it was no opportunity to find out more. He'd be exposed in a single careless step, and there was Kallen too…

It was just lucky the soldiers, and Kallen too, were blind enough to mistake a decoy for the real deal.

**.**

Lloyd's carelessness worked in his favour, otherwise he wouldn't have so quickly received confirmation.

Not that it mattered. Schneizel was gone. He'd missed his chance for those answers. But another chance would come. It would come because he was near now. Another opportunity would present itself.

Before that were the ruins, and C.C. Another breed of questions whose answers he sought.

Though C.C was tight lipped about them.

Not tight-lipped enough to prove she didn't know the answers. She did. He was sure of it.

He simply had to rethink his methods, think of another way to get those answers.

**.**

An opportunity walked in front of him again. Not for C.C, but when the personal imperial landship stood before them, it could only have been one of two people riding it.

And he didn't think it was Euphie.

When the figure came out, he was proven right.

It was Schneizel.


	16. 16

**A/N: ** How many times does the Zero vs. Suzaku argument show up I wonder. Reminds me of Kira and Athrun in Gundam Seed.

* * *

><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/16/**

**.**

It was time to take a leap forward.

Britannia's true defeat would be to lose the land it had amassed. For the nations it had supressed to become independent. For Japan, the mother of them, to become its own state.

It was time for the band of rebels to become much more. Because of words. Because a bunch of rebels could accomplish nothing. A bunch of terrorists could only walk to the chopping block. But an organisation: they had more political power. They could free a country. They could run it.

And they could push Britannia down into the mud.

**.**

It would be a permanent peace, once he achieved it. Not for the chess pieces he'd collected, but for Nunnally.

Though it still disgusted him to see how the Elevens were treated like trash. And how the rebels thought a little act of defiance would be enough to change that.

Little acts of defiance only hurt afterwards.

That was why he hadn't acted. Not until he'd had Geass.

Because he didn't want that sort of stuff to come back and bite Nunnally. Or his desire for revenge.

But now he had power. Geass.

He wasn't the old, powerless, Lelouch anymore.

**.**

Words were powerful, but without might they were useless. It was because of his reputation as Zero that he could be so callous, that he could expose a fraud for what he was.

Words without power was Suzaku. Words with power was Zero.

_Why does Suzaku still refuse to listen?_


	17. 17

**A/N: ** How many times does the Zero vs. Suzaku argument show up I wonder. Reminds me of Kira and Athrun in Gundam Seed.

* * *

><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/17/**

**.**

Nunnally was still so sweet. So innocent.

He had to protect that. He had to find a way to make sure she was safe. Forever.

Safer than under the thumb of Britannia: the Britannia that had cost her her eyesight and her legs. Somewhere independent. And somewhere stable, away from war or conflict or worry.

And Suzaku…if Suzaku joined him he would have everything he needed. He would have Nunnally's night, and his best friend by his side. He would have all the chess pieces he needed for his victory.

And yet he still refused.

_Geass… I could use Geass…_

**.**

Suzaku chose to become Euphemia's night.

Euphemia. Not Nunnally.

That angered him…but it also hurt. Because it was the final nail the coffin. The declaration that Zero and Suzaku would never see eye to eye – and that was without Suzaku knowing the truth.

_Geass… There's no other choice…_

But it didn't matter at all of Suzaku didn't join of his own free will.

Even if Lelouch was now backed against a wall.

Nunnally's happiness! How dare Suzaku play with that!

_Anger, grow… Overcome this obstacle…_

So he could use his Geass without regret, restraint.

So he could make Suzaku see.

**.**

He couldn't do it, in the end. He used Geass, but not to gain a comrade.

He hadn't been able to do it.

He'd chosen instead to protect him. That foolishness words had not been able to alleviate him of.

He'd force him to value his life. With that Geass.


	18. 18

**A/N: ** One chapter left after this!

* * *

><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/18/**

**.**

Euphie was there. Next to Nunnally. In their home. In their safe place.

He knew he could trust Nunnally, but his nerves were thin. The rebellion was coming along smoothly, coming closer… A rebellion that would happen under her rule…

It was a shame. He really liked her. But she was too much the pacifist. A pacifist wouldn't be able to give him the answers nor the revenge he sought. A pacifist would take the idealistic road to peace, and it would be a fragile, false, piece.

He'd thought through every possible scenario. She wouldn't be able to help him.

**.**

It would never happen. Her plan, her dream, her decleration. It was idealistic nonsense. He'd already thought of it. And it would fail.

And, in announcing her intentions, she had also ensured the Order of the Black Knights would collapse.

Euphie, peaceful little Euphie, was destroying his so carefully set up board.

He'd considered it. He'd considered it and he'd known it would fail.

He'd thought Euphie would realise that too.

But she didn't. She truly believed it would work.

And she had trapped him.

_But it won't work. It won't._

And he wasn't going to lose like that either.

**.**

The past was long gone. It was only Euphie clinging to that. Clinging to sibling ties that had been long since cut. Clinging to blood that had long since died.

And calling out to Zero like that – it was almost like she knew. Or had guessed.

She'd gone too deep.


	19. 19

**A/N: ** And…that's the ending? Looks like it doesn't cover as much as the anime…or the rest of it is under another name, because the manga site says complete.

What a heart wrenching place to end though. :D *stamps a remi!stamp of approval*

* * *

><p><strong>he who prepares to pull the trigger<br>/19/**

**.**

He was losing all of his pieces. All of his support. So many were satisfied to take the road of peace, even if they only got morsels in return. And that was all Euphie was offering. All she could offer. If even that.

_There's no way Britannia is going to let her…_

Whatever happened, whether it was him, the remnants of the Black Knights or her own family that crushed her, Euphie would fall.

Poor, idealistic Euphie would fall.

And that dream of hers would never become a reality.

It would only cause more people to suffer in the aftermath.

**.**

Maybe he'd talked himself into opposing her. But when he met her, she defeated him. Words against words. And Geass had abandoned him for that crucial moment. So she convinced him.

She wanted that peaceful world for Nunnally too.

And, for Nunnally's sake, they could work together.

Because she'd sacrificed her power, her authority, for this little peaceful haven.

And by paying that, she'd made the homeland listen to her request.

All for Nunnally.

He smiled. And laughed. He'd really been bested, by that Euphie. Revenge…it wasn't worth the cost of Nunnally's peace…

They could give it to her, here.

**.**

It'd all gone wrong. He'd lost control of his Geass.

And that chance to grasp peace was gone. The board was reset.

Euphie, under that unintentional command, was running rampant.

And he couldn't stop her…except…

Another sacrifice.

The Elevens begged him to save them.

He wasn't a saviour at all.


End file.
